Ericsson to provide emergency services communications gateway

Tasmanian Government chooses Ericsson to deliver Interoperability Gateway Solution. The solution will provide effective communication between the emergency services agencies addressing co-ordination concerns raised after 2012/13 bushfires. The new communications gateway to be ready for use in February 2015.

Connectivity between emergency service personnel in an emergency situation helps to effectively deploy the right services, in the right place and at the right time. It is also important that all communications reaches personnel – something that can only be ensured by a stable and reliable network connection.

To enable collaborative and reliable communication across Tasmania’s emergency services Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and partner Harris Corporation has been chosen to deliver a solution called an Interoperability Gateway.

Today a number of the agencies’ services run over different radio networks, requiring personnel to use their mobile phones to communicate with inter-agency colleagues or use shared radios between Police and the Fire Service. Ericsson’s solution will enable emergency services personnel to directly communicate between networks using existing radio terminals when required.

Ericsson systems integration experts will connect the communication networks used by Tasmania Police, Tasmania Fire Service, Ambulance Tasmania, the State Emergency Service (SES), TasNetworks and Hydro.

John Kelly, Director Industry & Society, Ericsson Australia and New Zealand says; ”The gateway will be in operation in February 2015 during the fire season while the Tasmanian Government continues work to implement a whole of government communications network. Ericsson is pleased to contribute to the TasGRN Interoperability Steering Committee’s goals of supporting emergency services, providing better communications and improving co-ordination of service deployment and agency interoperability in times of emergency.”

The Department of Police and Emergency Management (DPEM) Trunked Mobile Radio Network (TMRN) is the most advanced network being utilized by Tasmanian Agencies and will be the network to support the new gateway. Ambulance Tasmania and the Tasmania Fire Service networks will be linked to the TMRN through the new gateway.

Ericsson built the TMRN in 1998 and has managed the network since then through two upgrades with the last to convert it to digital IP, starting in 2010. Ericsson and technology partner Harris will work closely with the Tasmanian Government’s TasGRN Interoperability Steering Committee which was established to oversee the delivery of a future Whole of Government Radio Network.

Ericsson is responsible for the management of emergency operations in countries across the globe and is a driver in delivering next generation communications systems to Public Safety Agencies as Long Term Evolution (LTE) is adopted as the standard for Public Safety Mobile Broadband.

Notes to editors

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